Wendy's Change Good for Franchisees?

Wendy's has created a new department called Restaurant Services and has placed Ed Choe as its Executive Vice President.

According to a Wendy's news release, the new Restaurant Services Department will "enhance the coordination and level of assistance provided to Wendy's restaurants by placing all of the support functions under the same individual." The department will encompass Training, Quality Assurance and Operations Administration as well as other units to be created as a result of Wendy's reorganization, which is currently underway.

Importantly, the move also frees up time for Dave Near, who became COO in April, to spend in the field building relationships with Wendy's franchisees and driving operational improvement.

Choe was previously senior vice president of Wendy's northeast region, which has 1,100 Company and franchise restaurants. He joined Wendy's nearly 25 years ago, starting as a manager trainee with Wenco, a franchisee in the metropolitan New York/New Jersey area. He became chief operating officer, overseeing 45 stores, before he joined corporate as divisional vice president when the franchise was acquired in 1997.